I have used this gear live for more than 100 gigs. So I feel qualified to say something about this FX processor. Let me get the negative out of the way. It has a lot of effects, but there are only a small handful that is useful for a serious singer. Most of the 40 presets are down right amateurish. Presets such as Chipmunks, Cyborg, and Martian might be good if you are using it for a comedy act, but otherwise than that are useless. It also has feedback issues. After three years the pedal no longer works. I do not know exactly the technical issue of that. Maybe it’s an easy fix, but I do not use the pedal much anyway. If you are a professional musician and took one look at the purple box, and fool around with it for 20 minutes you might be discouraged, and automatically you label this gear as a toy marketed to garage kids. Now the question is this. If mine got stolen would I buy another one? The answer is YES! Let me explain why and go on with the positive points.
Instrument harmonizers Vocal Processor don’t track very well. Vocal effects track excellent. My thoughts were to use a better tracking effect with instruments. Why not use the two together?
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Tags: Chipmunks, Comedy Act, Cyborg, Fool, Gigs, Handful, Keyword, Martian, Professional Musician, Vocal Processor
July 27th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
This effects processor is great. I also use it with my guitar. It’s like having 40 pedals in one.
July 28th, 2010 at 2:10 am
I haven’t stopped playing with this machine since I bought it. I don’t perfom live, I record at home and I love being able to just tap away while I’m playing and find a suitable harmony for the song I’m writing. The presets are excellent; my favourite so far is “Blind Boys”, sounds like I have a group of experienced singers right behind me following my every note. It has also helped my songwriting by introducing harmonies and arrangements that hadn’t occurred to me. From even a simple melody, it fleshes out the entire song and improves the sound by 1000%. I admit I have a limited range as a vocalist, so to be able to hear those high and low harmonies exactly as I can hear them in my head, makes this Digitech worth every penny.
So if you play the guitar and do even a simple run up or down the fretboad, you can sing just the one note into the mic and the harmonies will flow with the chords and notes you play. Some of the names of the presets will give you an idea of how the harmonies will sound; CSN sounds like you-know-who, there’s one called “Tenors” another “Gospel” etc. As a female singer, I get blown away by hearing my “male back up singers” harmonising away! I’ve never been very good at hitting the harmony a 3rd *below* the melody. I tend to wobble all over the place when I try to work it out, but this thing does it and it sounds brilliant. As an added bonus, it’s also given me a ton more confidence in my own abilities as singer, harmonies or not.
So it still sounds like “you”, but with an added flavour and tone with the harmonies. I love doing a load of “what will happen when I try this..” scenarios. Play with some Beatles songs (think “Here there and Everywhere” “If I Fell” and “Rain” and you will get an idea of some of what it can do) Try some Queen harmonies even the Andrews sisters. I fell about laughing when I tried the Chordettes “Mr Sandman!” It’s the most fun I’ve had with any piece of musical hardware in many years.
Most definitely recommended !
Edit April 2010: Been playing with it for quite a few more weeks now and it still amazes me. I’ve used it in a few of my tunes and it really helps on the overall feel. With these great harmonies, they sound so much more professional. Love it.
July 28th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
I got the Vocalist Live 4 a few weeks ago. Since I am not a full time vocalist it is extremely enjoyable to have my own back up singers that happen to sing extremely well in tune and with me. OK, so if you do a blind modulation with the musIQ running you can fake it out, but then again, many professional singers have trouble with that. And for someone like me who will usually perform as a singer/guitar player by myself it just adds an extra dimension to my personal one man band.
I have only used the out of the box presets and in all likelihood will never need to program my own backup sounds but it seems easy enough to do if I want.
So far, my only complaint is that there is no power switch on the thing so I use a switched power strip to achieve the same thing.
I might also like the ability to save and program the device from a computer but that feature is not available so I’ll just have to write down any of my own settings if I happen to do that . . .
Overall though, this unit sounds and performs great and is really something you can use out of the box . . . Even my wife and son think it sounds pretty cool . . .
July 29th, 2010 at 1:41 am
I think that the DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 is one of the best things since sliced bread.
It has many great features and options.
I have also found it to make me more creative in my song writing process and is big help to the average person looking for new ways to spice up his/her songs vocally. I also way I can have “back up singers” harmonizing with me without the hours of practice and retakes.
Thank You.
July 29th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
The Digitech vocalist live 4 does have a lot of bells and whistles, however, there are a few problem areas. I tried two different units because I wasn’t satisified with the first one I received. Both worked exactly the same. Called Digitech and they were of no help whatsoever, just implied that the “new” version (rack version) had a different pre-amp and my problem would be resolved “if” I upgraded (hey, I just bought the damn thing). I have several guitars, all newer technology, finer instruments and I could not always input a signal that would be strong enough without a preamp (acording to the manual which implied signal strength via light meter, and of course my ears), which would give you an input light saying that the signal strength is adequate. I found this to be a pain in the ass, to say the least. All of a sudden a simple connection required another device to go through at an additional expense and more cords. For those that are not informed, if the signal strength is not strong, you “will” eventually go out of tune and it will be noticed unless you are tone deaf.
I like the idea, it works, I’ll keep it but it should have been better. Having to buy a pre-amp (I used a Art tube mp) to make it work properly, that simply sucks. All of my guitars are quality instruments and not outdated. It just could have been configured with a better pre-amp. I hate additional cords when not needed.
Now. . . all said and done, this is still a better buy (once configured properly), than the TC version which is about twice of what I paid. I gave it three stars simply for that reason.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:05 am
I have been in music for 40 years and ordered this as a tool to help new singers with pitch and confidence. Received this item yesterday, unpacked this evening after work and read the directions. I hooked everything up and it worked pretty well for about an hour. Then the mic signal cut out. Power stayed on but mic signal wouldn’t come back. Disconnected power for about ten minutes and went back to try again – same problem. Tried different mics and cords with no difference noted. Was not impressed with module response to vocal variations. Response was slow. If you are singing a hymn, it might work out. Anything contemporary – it isn’t a good fit. This is a good idea but poorly executed as a product.